Geriatric Care Management Blog

It is the season where we hear about “making a list…and checking it twice.”  My kids think I get a little too carried away making lists, but having the right list at the right time can save the day when the unexpected occurs.  Life has a habit of throwing the unexpected at us, but even then we can be prepared.  As a geriatric care manager, I regularly coach families of an older loved one or someone with special needs in list-making, especially if that loved one lives alone.   You may recall in an earlier blog, I started with a list of activities of daily living to use as a way to inventory the functional capacity of a loved one.  Once we see the deficits it becomes easier to develop an action plan. But think ahead to the phone call you may one day receive that your loved one has fallen or had a stroke or some other debilitating incident.  The first responders or a neighbor may know enough to call you, but now you have to be the voice for the incapacitated loved one.  Do you know their meds and daily doses?  Do you know where they keep their medications?  Do you know who their primary care physician is or if they have a cardiologist, neurologist, or other health care provider who should be called?...